Each week, our German correspondent slices and dices the latest rumblings, news, and quick-hit driving impressions from the other side of the pond. His byline may say Jens Meiners, but we simply call him . . . the Continental.

Can hybrids be fun? Last week, I spent several hours behind the wheel of the Europe-only Volvo V60 D6 plug-in hybrid, and it’s so interesting that I’d like to devote a few paragraphs to it. Using the 212-hp, 2.4-liter five-cylinder turbo-diesel found in the V60 D5, the V60 D6 packs its rear axle with a Bosch-sourced electric motor that makes about 70 hp and 148 lb-ft of torque. That’s a significant power boost, which comes at an extra €5000 above the conventionally powered D5 with all-wheel drive. This kind of power for the money wouldn’t be a bad deal by itself, but with the plug-in hybrid, the customer gets an entirely different car.

This D6 sports a large lithium-ion battery pack placed below the (shrunken) luggage compartment. It stores enough power to travel 20 to 30 miles on an electric charge without the diesel coming to its aid. I got fairly strong acceleration, even uphill, and was able to travel electrically at up to 75 mph. In a regular hybrid, you must use the gentlest of touches on the pedal to avoid triggering the internal combustion engine. Not so in the D6; moreover, you get a clear visual indication on the dashboard of how far you can push it without the aid of conventional power.

To drive fully electric at all times, you select “Pure.” Only when you abuse the pedal will the IC engine jump in. “Hybrid” mode automatically switches between electric and diesel propulsion with slight boosting. “Save” mode keeps the diesel running at all times to keep the battery charged for later entry into an electric-only zone, and “AWD” makes sure the rear axle is engaged at all times to sharpen response on rough and slippery terrain. My favorite mode, of course, was “Power.” Here, the diesel is always running, and only in this mode does the E-motor give its full boost. With engine and E-motor pushing simultaneously, 276 hp and 472 lb-ft of torque provide vehement acceleration—at least up to about 95 mph. Then, the E-motor is switched off so it won’t overrev, and the D6’s accelerative performance becomes equal to that of a D5; a D5, we point out, that is overweight by 661 pounds. That’s the extra heft on top of the D5 with conventional all-wheel drive; the front-wheel-drive D5 weighs 875 pounds less than the plug-in D6.

So, is it fun? Yes, if you like video games; perhaps not so much if you like cars. You can feel the extra weight in quick corners, and there is a highly artificial feel to the powertrain. The brakes are the worst: Stepping on the brake pedal—which triggers energy recovery to help charge the batteries— feels like you are squeezing a rubber ball. By the way, you do need to plug in the car to fully recharge the batteries: The car doesn’t completely recharge the batteries in order to reduce the number of charging cycles. Should the V60 D6 come to the U.S.? Why not? Combining a diesel with an E-motor provides better fuel economy than a gasoline hybrid, although you’ll never feel connected with the engine.

Two Cars that Propelled Communism

Goodbye to two cars that were developed in the West but moved on to live long lives in Communist Russia and China, and then carried on into capitalism: The last units of the Russian-built Lada 2107 and the Chinese-built Volkswagen Santana will roll off the production lines within a year.

The rear-wheel-drive Lada 2107 is based on the Fiat 124, which was launched in 1966 and fathered a whole family of cars, which included the Pininfarina Spider Europa. The first Ladas rolled off the line in 1970 in Togliattigrad, a city named after the former Italian Communist party leader Palmiro Togliatti. Long after Fiat moved to front-wheel-drive architecture, the Lada soldiered on, and it was a common sight even in Western Europe in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The 2107 started life in the mid-80s as the “luxury version,” identified by a pompous grille. A decade or so ago, Lada even experimented with a rotary engine. But in 2008, Renault took a 25 percent share in Lada’s parent company, AvtoVAZ, and aims to build its own, far more modern vehicles in Russia. The Fiat derivative also will retire soon. Arrivederci, 2107!

And auf Wiedersehen, Santana: The notchback version of VW’s Passat B2/Quantum was prematurely deemed a failure soon after its 1981 launch. A pet project of VW’s then-R&D boss Ernst Fiala (and only his, I hear), it was rushed through by a small group of employees on weekends. Fiala’s colleagues watched with thinly concealed glee as the dull, pseudo-luxury sedan flopped on its home market.

But Fiala had the last laugh. When VW began producing cars in Shanghai, the unloved Santana was selected. Today, thanks mainly to China, more than 3.6 million units have rolled off the lines worldwide. In China, it carries on in its original form, but there have been more sophisticated versions called the Santana 2000, 3000, and Vista; the latter is still in production. And in Brazil, the Santana lived on until 2006 and was even rebadged as the Ford Versailles and Royale as a station wagon. But it won’t survive the next year, a VW source tells me. Take comfort, nostalgia fans: FAW-VW still makes the Jetta II in China; it was launched in Germany in 1984.